New England Religious Herald

FOR THE N. E. RELIGIOUS HERALD.

Forest Musings.

O for a heart in tune—
As in this forest solitude I stand.
Dark with the leaves of June—
And dim as some cathedral vast and grand.
Waves of delicious air
Flow in faint rushes through the grateful boughs,
Whose arches are more fair
Than all the domes that echo formal vows.
And fitfully there rings
The ecstasy of birds, that roving near,
Pause on their restless wings,
And rouse the very woodland with their cheer.
Oft in the solemn light
Of the lone Olive grove our Savior trod.
'Twas then a temple bright,
With the high presence of the incarnate God.
Away from human grief,
What waves of heavenly beauty crost his soul!
Was not the mountain air like dewy balm.
In solitude intense
Like breath from his divine and native calm.
Could he not almost hear
the ocean chimes of love in his own home
And to his spirit's ear
Did not the sound of perfect worship come?
Now as I muse alone
Oh thou who once didst seek the olive wild.
From thy eternal Throne
Hear the low voice of a frail human child.
Over my spirit shed
The holy radiance of the sinless land.
Raise thou my drooping head,
And as an elder Brother keep my hand.

M. L. K.